Evan’s NHL Daily: DU Headed To The ‘Ship, Avalanche Drop In Central

There was a lot of future NHL talent on display Thursday in Minnesota for the Frozen Four. In one game, you had Boston College, loaded with high draft picks, taking on Michigan. In the other game, you had the hometown DU Pioneers taking on Boston University and the soon-to-be first overall pick in the NHL Draft, Macklin Celebrini. Four teams looking to make it to the Championship, but in the end, it’ll be the hometown Pios looking for the 10th title on Saturday against BC.

In the NHL, the Dallas Stars seemed to take their foot off the gas, as they were shutout at home by the Winnipeg Jets. That’s not good news for the Avalanche, who are now looking at a Saturday afternoon matchup that could determine home-ice in round one.

All that and more in this Friday edition of Evan’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

Maybe there should be a goaltending controversy, but the words and actions of the organization show that it’s Alexandar Georgiev or bust.

DU Headed To Another Championship

DU has been a fan of these tight games in the Frozen Fury, and for the second time in the tournament, they needed overtime to advance.

Tristan Broz scored the game-winning goal, assisted by Avalanche prospect Sean Behrens, to send DU to Saturday’s championship game. They’ll face-off against a stacked Boston College team, who have quite a few high-end NHL prospects on their roster. It should be a good one, and you can watch it Saturday at 4 PM MST. If Thursday’s games were any indication, you might be better off muting the commentary.

Speaking of Behrens, he had an eventful game. He blew up Celebrini in the first period, then got crushed at the end of regulation, before coming back in overtime and assisting on the game-winner. You’d think the Avalanche would like to get him signed once this tournament ends, but we’ll find that out soon enough. He has a bit of Toews to his game with how he uses his stick.

Sean Behrens (#GoAvsGo) with a thunderous open-ice hit on Macklin Celebrini pic.twitter.com/8MMFekaXQG

— J.D. Burke (@JDylanBurke) April 11, 2024

Avalanche Fall To 3rd In Central

The Winnipeg Jets just won’t go away, and with a 3-0 shutout win over the Stars on Thursday, they’re now tied with the Avalanche at 104 points. The issue on Colorado’s end is that Winnipeg has all the tiebreakers right now, so if they end up tied in points, Winnipeg will start on home-ice.

That makes the Saturday matchup between these two teams even more important. If the Avalanche want home-ice in round one, and I know they do, they need to win to stay ahead of the Jets. Winnipeg has won both matchups between the teams this season, but Colorado should be getting Mikko Rantanen back for this one.

Technically, both teams can still catch Dallas, but a lot would have to go right for that to happen. If Dallas wins just one of their final games, they clinch the division.

Hart Trophy Insanity

Nikita Kucherov added two more assists, while Auston Matthews is up to 68 goals on the season. This might be the most insane Hart Trophy race in years.

National Hockey Now

Sidney Crosby picked up assist 1,000 in overtime, as the Penguins rebounded after blowing a late lead to take control of the final Wild Card spot.

The Vegas Golden Knights locked down Noah Hanifin to a massive deal.

Thanks to DU, the Montreal Canadiens might be able to bring a top prospect in to finish the season at the NHL level.